Sunburned Peppers: How to Keep Burned Spots from Forming on Peppers

When you live in Texas, you experience much stronger solar rays, because of our location closer to the equator.

When I first saw the bad spot on the bell pepper pictured here, I sought information from a farmer. She told me, "Your pepper is sunburned, but you'll be fine!"

Well, that was some consolation. At least my pepper was not experiencing a blight or fungus. But what to do?

There is a product called Cloud Cover, which, when sprayed on the plant or its fruit, acts as a sunscreen, and prevents sunburn. I did try the product (or something similar), but I waited too late. You're supposed to spray it on the young fruit, for the best results.

Below is a photo of my pathetic attempts to shade the peppers on a hot July day. Hint: the shade cloth is great, but different attempts to rig it as you see here were not effective. The wind took care of my "tent". It wouldn't stay in place.

I now have experience, and I will once again try the Cloud Cover product when the plants are less mature.

If products don't work for you, take heart! As you can see, from the picture here, eventually your pepper plants will grow really big. What will happen is the upper branches and leaves of the plants will shade fruit on the lower branches, and you'll have some peppers without the ugly sunburned spots. Yep, it really does work out in the end.

Also, if you let your peppers produce a second time in the autumn, the sun should be somewhat less powerful, indeed.